Beyond the Box Score: Veterans, newcomers prove pivotal in 3-1 win for shorthanded SKC

No Dom Dwyer. No Roger Espinoza. No Graham Zusi. No problem.

Sporting Kansas City flexed their lineup -- and their status as a Supporters' Shield contender -- with a 3-1 road win at Toronto FC on Saturday, beginning a stretch of five games in 15 days by showcasing the depth demanded of the club in the days ahead.

With Dwyer and Espinoza suspended, in stepped Jacob Peterson and Paulo Nagamura with 21 seasons of MLS experience combined. Add in Chance Myers, the team's longest tenured player at eight straight seasons, and Saturday was the first time since May 23, 2014 -- against Toronto, coincidentally -- that the club's three most veteran MLS members started together.

TEAM-BY-TEAM: NO. OF PLAYERS WITH 5+ YEARS OF MLS EXPERIENCE

Conversely, rookie Connor Hallisey made his first career road start on short notice when Zusi was a last-minute scratch in warm-ups. Hallisey was one of three newcomers sprinkled in Sporting Kansas City's starting 11 (alongside international acquisitions Soni Mustivar and Krisztian Nemeth) and was also one of three rookies on the field at final whistle (alongside fellow first round SuperDraft selections Amadou Dia and Saad Abdul-Salaam).

TEAM-BY-TEAM: GAMES PLAYED BY 2015 MLS SUPERDRAFT PICKS

Note: No 2015 SuperDraft picks have played to date for POR, DAL or NE

So goes the story for a Sporting KC squad in 2015 that has been forced to weather the absence of seven players to date with injuries that required recoveries of a month or longer:

Chance Myers: March 8 - June 6
Paulo Nagamura: May 23 - June 27
Bernardo Anor: May 20 - July 18
Ike Opara: April 18 - present
Seth Sinovic: May 20 - present
Jalil Anibaba: July 12 - present
Roger Espinoza: Aug. 8 - present

That group -- with an average 127 MLS appearances between them -- are all part of the team's 18-player senior roster assembled by Peter Vermes, who is now the club's all-time winningest coach thanks to a series of tactical adjustments that secured the record-tying victory in fitting fashion on Saturday.

Faced with the formidable front three of Sebastian Giovinco, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore, Vermes elected to give 21-year-old Jimmy Medranda his left back debut. Medranda, who wasn't in the team's 18-man gameday roster a week earlier, made the most of the opportunity by going the full 90 minutes for the first time in his 11-game MLS career. He won all six of his tackles - a game-high among Saturday's starters - to go along with six recoveries and five interceptions in the match.

On the opposite end of the field, Medranda nearly pulled off the "greatest assist in MLS history" in the 13th minute then set up the game's opening goal when Kevin Ellis won a penalty kick while contesting a cross from the Colombian. Benny Feilhaber converted the ensuing penalty attempt to give Sporting KC a lead that lasted all of 54 seconds before Bradley equalized, marking only the 10th time in MLS history -- and only the third time since 2000 -- for opposing teams to score in the same minute.

GOALS BY BOTH TEAMS IN SAME MINUTE
KC at LA on 8/21/96 (Chung 24, Hurtado 24)
NE at CLB on 4/11/98 (Keegan 88, McBride 88)
DC at SJ on 6/1/97 (Sanneh 86, Doyle 86)
SJ at TB on 7/20/97 (Cerritos 65, Gilmar 65)
DAL at DC on 6/7/98 (Trotman 88, own goal 88)
NY at DAL on 8/26/00 (Mathis 26, Graziani 26)
LA at MIA on 7/8/00 (Vagenas 86, Marshall 86)
DAL at HOU on 4/6/08 (Alvarez 57, own goal 57)
KC at SJ on 10/1/11 (Bunbury 85, Wondolowski 85)
KC at TOR on 8/8/15 (Feilhaber 22, Bradley 22)

Feilhaber, one of two SKC players on MLSsoccer.com's Team of the Week, continued to add to his MVP credentials with the game-winning assist on a free kick seven minutes later. Saturday's match was Feilhaber's third of the season in which he recorded both a goal and assist -- after only having two such games in his previous four MLS seasons combined. Moreover, Feilhaber is now one of just six active players in MLS with at least 20 career goals and 30 career assists in the regular season since 2011. 

2011-2015: 20 GOAL, 30 ASSIST CLUB (ACTIVE MLS PLAYERS)

"We’re playing with 11 guys on the field and everybody playing for each other. It’s a team performance,” Feilhaber said. “It’s about the mentality of the team. Everybody has confidence in one another.”

Sporting Kansas City put an exclamation point on the road result with Peterson's strike in the 87th minute, scoring on his former club's home turf for the second straight year.

“I don’t care about me scoring. I care about the team winning and that was a really good performance,” Peterson said postgame. “Toronto is a very good organization. They’re spending a lot of money and the ownership really wants to win. So for us to come in here on their home turf and to win is a big testament to what Peter’s built and what this whole roster’s bought into.”

Peterson remains one of only four forwards with a goal or assist in each of the past 10 MLS regular seasons.

2006-2015: MLS PLAYERS WITH GOAL OR ASSIST IN 10 STRAIGHT SEASONS

Saturday's victory sees Sporting KC move back atop the MLS points per game table, narrowly edging D.C. United, in a Supporters' Shield race that will be momentarily put on pause as the club prepares for Wednesday's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal. The rematch with Real Salt Lake kicks off at 7:30 p.m. CT at Sporting Park with tickets available via Ticketmaster.com or by calling 888-4KC-GOAL.